Announcing the fourth biennial North American conference of the International Network for Christian Higher Education. For the first time, INCHE will co-host this conference with the Kuyers Institute for Christian Teaching and Learning.

Call for Papers

Conversations about faith and learning have often centered on questions of how and what we know – our perspectives on the ideas that circulate in educational settings. This conference will focus on what happens when we think about Christian learning as something shaped by our designs for learning. We invite paper submissions from any discipline on topics related to the ways in which Christian faith can shape the learning process. A range of questions may be addressed, such as:

How are our students formed as people of faith, hope, and love?

How do we design curriculum and teaching and learning processes if our goals include virtue or faith formation?

How does faith inform the design processes that shape teaching and learning?

What are the commonalities and differences in how Christian learning is designed for different disciplinary contexts?

How does the changing context in which we work affect the design of Christian learning?

In what ways should we consider varied global intersections of faith and culture in our designs?

How can we identify whether a way of designing Christian learning is a good one?

Paper proposals of 1-2 pages, including 100-word abstracts‚ should be sent via e-mail to kuyers@calvin.edu no later than May 10, 2019. Notification of acceptance will be sent by June 7, 2019.

A limited number of rooms are blocked for conference attendees at the Prince Conference Center. Call 616.526.7200 to reserve your room under the block and to arrange an airport shuttle. Read more about guest amenities here.

Plenary Speakers

Luke Bretherton is professor of theological ethics and senior fellow of the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University. He has worked with a variety of faith-based NGOs, mission agencies, and churches around the world. His books include Christianity and Contemporary Politics: The Conditions and Possibilities of Faithful Witness (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010), winner of the 2013 Michael Ramsey Prize for Theological Writing; Resurrecting Democracy: Faith, Citizenship and the Politics of a Common Life (Cambridge University Press, 2015); and Christ and the Common Life: Political Theology and the Case for Democracy (Eerdmans, 2019).

Faith Nguru is professor of mass communications and former academic dean at Daystar University, with research interests in communication, Christian worldviews, and education. She has also been involved in establishing and running a Christian elementary school and teacher training college. Her most recent publication is a co-authored chapter in Black/Africana Communication Theory published by Palgrave Macmillan (2018).

Tersur Aben is professor of theology and philosophy at Theological College of Northern Nigeria, Bukuru, where he served as college president from 2009-2016. He serves on the board of the International Network for Christian Higher Education (INCHE). He is also an educational consultant with University of Mkar and Rafiki Institute of Classical Education in Nigeria. Aben is a pastor in the Universal Reformed Christian Church (NKST) in Nigeria.

Marilyn Naidoo is professor of practical theology at the University of South Africa with a focus on religious education and empirical research. Her research focus is theological education and ministerial formation and she is a rated scholar with the National Research Foundation. Recent publications include Between the Real and the Ideal: Ministerial Formation in South African Churches (UNISA Press, 2012) and Contested Issues in Training Ministers in South Africa (Sun Media, 2015).

Ken Badley teaches in the department of education at Mount Royal University and is professor of education by special appointment at Tyndale University College. His most recent book, Curriculum Planning with Design Language: Building Elegant Courses and Units (Routledge, 2018), uses visual design terminology to conceptualize objectives, processes, and strategies for curriculum design.

On November 6-8, 2018 the IAPCHE All-African conference will be hosted by the Institute for Foundational Studies of the North-West University (Potchefstroom, South Africa), in collaboration with AROS, a South African Christian higher education institution.

The conference theme is "Integral Christian Scholarship in Africa." Under this broad theme there will be three streams for conference thinking and engagement: Worldview; Leadership; and Education. Proposals, with 300 words or less, must be submitted to iapcheconference2018@gmail.com. The deadline is August 31, 2018.

Keynote speakers are:

Dr. Faith Nguru, former Deputy Vice Chancellor, Academics Affairs, Riara University, Kenya. Professor Nguru holds an M.A. in Christian ministries and a PhD in mass communications. Also, she is involved in Christian schooling and holds regular workshops for educators in the area of developing a Christian worldview. She serves as the Chair of Transformational Leadership Africa.

Dr. Bernard Boyo is professor of religion at Daystar University and dean of their School of Arts and Humanities. Professor Boyo holds advanced degrees in divinity and theology, including a doctorate of philosophy in theology. He has facilitated and spoken at numerous seminars and conferences across varied church and university circles.

Dr. David I. Smith is currently a Calvin College faculty member, where he is the founding Director of the Kuyers Institute for Christian Teaching and Learning and has been the Director of Graduate Studies in Education. Professor Smith also serves as the senior editor of the International Journal of Christianity and Education.

Dr. Bennie van der Walt was professor of philosophy at the Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education and the director of the Institute for Reformational Studies. He is one of the founding members of IAPCHE.

Further details about this conference can be found at http://humanities.nwu.ac.za/iapche-africa-2018. More information about IAPCHE can be found at https://www.iapche.org/

IAPCHE is collaborating with member institution, Bethlehem Tertiary Institute, to host a conference on "Modeling Christ's Love within Professional Practice," which will be held from April 11-13, 2018, at ASB Arena, Mount Maunganui, New Zealand.